Okay, writers all, time to take out those quills and bring your dastardly devilish and deplorable doom-bringers back to life for a chance at stardom… well, for a chance at a paying gig at industry rates that’ll have you published, anyway.

Blackguards is a Kickstarter project for a collection of 20+ stories by… well, I’ll just let their words speak for them. If you’re already familiar with the project, hit the jump to find out about the paying gig.

ROGUES. ASSASSINS. MERCENARIES.

Coin is their master, and their trade, more often than not, is blood. Something about these nefarious types appeals to the fantasy reader. Perhaps it is that they have abandoned the moral set that dictates what is socially acceptable in our world. In these tales, we live vicariously, intrepidly, and by our blades or our wits or a culmination of both to some degree. These are BLACKGUARDS.

What we at RAGNAROK PUBLICATIONS want to do is offer a premium collection of 20+ short stories by popular writers set in the worlds of their own making. The authors we’ve enlisted are all known for writing some roguish types in their respective series, and here we will be illuminating them just a bit more by dusky moonlight. We have Michael J. Sullivan’s RIYRIA, Carol Berg’s DUST AND LIGHT, David Dalglish’s world of DEZREL where his SHADOWDANCE series is set, Mark Lawrence’s BROKEN EMPIRE, and many more.

Now that the project has hit one of its stretch goals, they’re inviting ANYONE to submit their work to the collection. More on this from Shawn Speakman:

You’ve really done it this time. The wall has been scaled, the castle raided, and the ancient library plundered to make room for more words. Words of your making.

With the latest stretch goal ($22,000, can you believe it?) Blackguards is now open for 1-2 lucky authors to step into the lineup and be paid the same wages as the rest of the authors slaving away behind the scenes. Seriously. From now until OCTOBER 11th, 2014, you (yes, YOU!) have the opportunity to pen a tale for Blackguards. Here’s what you need to know:

Deadline: October 11th, 2014

The opportunity is open to EVERYONE regardless whether you’ve pledged to Blackguards or not.

Format: RTF, DOC, DOCX, double-spaced, in a legible serif (such as Times New Roman) Send To: publisher (at) ragnarokpub.com as a file attachment (replace (a) w/ the @ symbol, of course). The subject line is important! It should read: BLACKGUARDS SUBMISSION

Limit one submission per author.

No simultaneous subs.

No reprints.

This is a paying gig. Professional rates (7-9 cents a word depending on where the campaign lands at close). Please don’t email and ask if editor Joe Martin has read your submission. He will choose the best 1 or 2 stories by OCTOBER 11th, 2014; if you do not hear from him by then, assume he still likes you very much and he likes your story, but he has chosen another that had a better fit for the book.

The winning stories will be announced shortly after.

That’s it. Go forth and submit, all my fellow writers. I shall see you on the field!